On May 10, 2013, NBC renewed Community for a fifth season consisting of 13 episodes. Season Four showrunners Moses Port and David Guarascio and senior writer Megan Ganz have moved onto other projects. Show creator Dan Harmon and writer Chris McKenna returned to the show as the new co-showrunners. Not long after launching their Fall schedule, it was officially announced by NBC on October 18 that the show would return the following year as a mid-season replacement. "Community" will be airing back to back episodes at its regular 8:00 PM time slot starting on January 2, 2014.
Sony Pictures Television (owner of "Community") negotiated its fifth season alongside a few other Sony helmed TV pilots NBC was interested in, including a drama called "The Blacklist" and a comedy titled "Welcome To The Family". Writers Megan Ganz, Steve Basilone, and Annie Mebane will not be returning for Season 5. Chevy Chase has also departed the series. It is explained his character's absence is due to a court order preventing him from being on school grounds and later his death. Season Four showrunners Moses Port and David Guarascio, who had both signed one year deals, decided to move on to other projects. After some rumors that original showrunner Dan Harmon may be returning, it was finally made official by Harmon himself on his twitter account:

On July 7, online entertainment news site Vulture reported the news that Donald Glover is to have a reduced role this season appearing in only five of the planned thirteen episodes.

On April 17, 2014, Season Five finished airing its final episode "Basic Sandwich". The following month on May 9, NBC announced its Fall lineup and chose not to renew Community officially cancelling it. Creator Dan Harmon sent out a message to the cast, crew and fans of the show on his Twitter account:

After a month of negotiations with several different entities, Sony announced on June 30, 2014 that the online streaming service Yahoo Screen had picked the series up for a sixth season.

Dan Harmon had an interview with Michael Ausiello of the online entertainment news site TV Line. Harmon revealed a few things to expect from Season Five. When asked about Donald Glover's reduced role this year, Harmon stated he has a story arc planned to deal with his limited appearances. Harmon also hinted that an all animated episode was in the works along with his desire to do a "disaster" themed episode and hints of possible developments for a particular pairing.

On July 21, 2013 Dan Harmon, Chris McKenna, Danny Pudi, Jim Rash, Gillian Jacobs, Alison Brie, and Ken Jeong all appeared at the annual San Diego Comic Con panel for Community. Dino Stamotopolous was there as well but Joel McHale and Donald Glover were absent. McHale did appear in a video package introducing the panel which was moderated by Chris Hardwick.

On August 14, Community writer Tim Sacardo tweeted a photo of the cast and crew doing a reading for the first episode of Season Five. On August 16 Dan Harmon tweeted the front of the script but covered up the name of the first episode. It's production code is #501 officially written by both Dan Harmon and Chris McKenna and directed by Tristram Shapeero. On November 4, the title was later revealed to be "Repilot" by actress Gillian Jacobs on a podcast interview of "Bullseye with Jesse Thorn".

On August 20, online entertainment news site TV Line reports that Rob Cordry will return in Season Five as Alan Conner, Jeff's old law firm colleague. Also, Entertainment Weekly reported that former "Breaking Bad" star Jonathan Banks will star in eleven of the upcoming thirteen episodes of Season Five as Annie's Criminology professor. On September 4, TV Guide reported that "Justified" star Walter Goggins will appear in Season Five as a mysterious character called "Mr. Stone". On September 11, the online news site Hollywood Reporter announced that "The Daily Show's" John Oliver will be reprising his role of Professor Ian Duncan in Season Five. He is scheduled to appear in at least six episodes. On September 18, 2013, the AV Club and Pop Culture Brain entertainment news sites announced that actor LeVar Burton will appear in Season Five. Burton posted pictures of his time on set which can be seen here. On October 3, it was announced by TV Line that Nathan Fillion would be guest starring on Community as a janitor called "Bob Waite" .